Texas State sweeps Arkansas State amid another record breaking performance

After Texas State’s Emily DeWalt broke the record for all-time assists in Sun Belt Conference history, it was Janell Fitzgerald’s turn to break another record that had stood the test of time for 24 years in the Bobcat volleyball program.

The weekend saw the graduate senior outside hitter become the all-time leader in kills in Texas State history as the Bobcats swept Arkansas State 3-0 (25-16, 25-21, 25-11) on Friday night and 3-2 (20-25, 25-17, 25-14, 24-26, 15-10) on Saturday afternoon.

Texas State improves its record to 18-6 overall with a 10-2 conference record.

Fitzgerald broke the record set by Makenda Smith for playing for the then Southwest Texas State Bobcats from 1995-1998.

For the now record leader, Fitzgerald thanked everybody that helped her get to the position she has now made it to.

“I’m honored,” Fitzgerald said. “That is all I can say about it. My team works hard and they give me the opportunities to get to that opportunity. I’m blessed to say the very least and I thank God, my family, my support system, my team obviously, and my setter Emily DeWalt for every single point and believing in me along with my coaches who believed in me every step of the way.”

Following the Bobcats sweep of the Red Wolves on Friday, Arkansas State responded in a big way by taking the first set 25-20 on Saturday.

As Huiet explained, Arkansas State got into flow which Texas State couldn’t get the Red Wolves to break out of.

“It honestly came down to the serve-pass game,” Huiet said. “They (Arkansas State) served really well and we struggled with returning the serve. We could not take them out of the system when they were in the system…I think it was a little bit of a mental side of it so we have to get better come next weekend.”

Following the first set loss, it was regroup time for Texas State as Huiet reminded the team what they are playing for.

“We always talk about not worrying about the other side,” Huiet said. “We are going to play our style of volleyball but the other thing is that from this match onwards is a championship match because we are on the hunt for the Sun Belt West Division title and the Sun Belt regular season title. Let’s not focus on beating Arkansas State but being in a championship match because every match and set is going to come down to something.”

The response was two straight set wins for the Bobcats as they took the second set at 25-17 and the third set at 25-14.

However in the fourth set, the Red Wolves jumped out to an enormous lead at 7-1.

Though the Bobcats fought hard to tie the game back up, Arkansas State prevailed winning 26-24 to force a fifth set.

“I thought we lost focus for a little bit,” Huiet said. “Lauren was high, which she hasn’t been in a really long time. We knew we could claw our way into the set but it was frustrating how it ended. This team has been really locked in and what they want to do. Like I said, we would rather be talking about this after a win than a loss.”

Though Arkansas State made things interesting, Texas State was able to pull through and come out with a 15-10 win.

“We had one sluggish run there,” Huiet. “We made too many mistakes but other than that we had a really good set. We stepped up to the challenge … It doesn’t always have to be pretty even though we like to make it pretty but we have to keep winning.”

Texas State returns back home this weekend for a major showdown as the Bobcats host the Troy Trojans for control of the Sun Belt West division.